Aakash Chopra slams ICC for not scheduling India vs Pakistan in WTC 2023-25 cycle

India have not played Pakistan in any of the World Test Championship cycles.

With the Ashes series in England, the World Test Championship 2023-25 cycle has begun. The World Test Championship has been a successful campaign for the ICC in making test cricket more interesting. With two WTC Finals concluded, the third edition has begun, and India will start their campaign against West Indies next month. India will be taking on every other team excluding two of their neighbours Pakistan and Sri Lanka. In the previous editions, India had not faced their arch-rivals Pakistan. Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra has slammed ICC over no India vs Pakistan encounters in the upcoming WTC cycle as well. 

Aakash Chopra talks about India vs Pakistan

Apart from Ireland, Zimbabwe, and Afghanistan, every other team is taking part in the WTC Cycle. Every team plays 6 nations, 3 home and 3 away formats. India had not played Pakistan in each of the cycles. Aakash Chopra said, “You don’t play against all teams. But this is WTC, it’s an ICC event. It has been 4 years now… can you imagine an ICC event without India vs Pakistan? This can never happen. It’s always at the start of the tournament so it gets off to a great start commercially. It gets the highest rating and people make money”. India vs Pakistan always becomes a high-revenue game for the ICC in every ICC event. 

Talking about the possibilities of an India vs Pakistan series at WTC, Aakash further added, “Is WTC not an ICC event? It’s an ICC mace, they host the final. So all the matches that take place in the cycle should be in the purview of the ICC. It will be 6 years, and you didn’t have a single India - Pakistan series. This is also an ICC event. If it’s not, make it clear. Call it bilateral cricket and accept that you have made WTC just to glamorize test cricket”. India and Pakistan have not played any bilateral event after the 2013 Pakistan tour of India.